LAST MONTH MORE refugees arrived in the EU by sea than during any other month ever.

A monthly record of 218,394 migrants reached European shores in the month of October, according to figures from the UN.

In total, 210,265 reached Greece with 8,129 reaching Italy.

This is almost as many as the estimated 219,000 that arrived in the EU last year, according to the UNHCR. 

So far in 2015 there have been 601,079 arrivals in Greece and 140,200 migrant arrivals into Italy.

A large number of the new arrivals are refugees from Syria.

At least 70 people have drowned trying to make the crossing in the past week.

So far this year more than 744,175 people have arrived in Europe by sea. Out of these 3,440 people have been reported either dead or missing.

The majority of those travelling into the EU are men, making up 65%. Women make up 14% of those travelling and children make up 20%.

Many of those arriving on European shores have shelled out large sums of money to people smugglers, and aim to travel across the continent to Germany in order to seek asylum.

Fears are now growing for the safety of many of those arriving with winter approaching. It is thought that a danger will be posed by the challenging weather conditions, especially in the Balkan nations where many of the migrants are currently passing through.

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